The federal lawsuit didn’t deter the Township Board of Trustees, however, from enacting sexually oriented business rules Monday. The revisions were the first in years. Trustees made no comment during a unanimous roll call vote.

“We feel our ordinance is very clear,” said Supervisor Tim Braun.

The lawsuit asks the federal court to declare both the refusal to transfer the liquor license and the sexually oriented business rules “unconstitutional” and to prevent the rules enforcement.

The suburb “erroneously claimed” Tini Bikini’s is an adult-oriented business and that the suburb violated the plaintiffs First, Fifth and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the suit said.

The plaintiffs demand a jury trial in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in Bay City.

“I’m still hopeful we can work something out without having to litigate it,” Draper said.

“We would dispute certainly that the ordinance has targeted his client,” Mahlberg said.

Tini Bikini’s would feature a “female staff that will wear bikinis and that will perform non-obscene, non-nude, live dance entertainment,” the lawsuit said.

Draper said the owner has agreed the performers would not wear G-strings in Saginaw Township, unlike a Grand Rapids location where scantily clad dancers swing on a pole and perform on a small stage near a bar. Tini Bikini’s website advertises private dances.

“There would not be G-strings here,” he reiterated Monday. “There would be full bikinis.”

Assistant Director of Community Development Bridget Smith noted the township had dropped references to “bikini” and “lingerie” in the new rules at the attorney’s urging.

Township officials have said the business may open in the suburb, but not at RJ’s because it’s within 1,000 feet of a school, church and residential area.

Tini Bikini’s could locate elsewhere “but it would also be not commercially viable,” Draper said.

The township has had the same distance requirements since 1994, the last time a major revision occurred, officials said.

Draper and law partner Anthony L. DeLuca, represent Ho-Bo Properties of Saginaw Inc., the holder of the liquor license, and Fredward of Saginaw, LLC, which had an agreement to sell the property to Tini Bikini’s, court files show. State records show Howard N. Johnson of Carrollton Township as the registered agent.

Tini Bikini’s-Saginaw LLC and Petrick Holdings-Saginaw LLC are the other plaintiffs. State records list Chris Petrick of Hudsonville as the resident agent.

Draper argued the business would provide needed jobs in a tough economy. “I’m all about employing people,” he said. “You don’t have to go if you don’t like it. This is America.”

Among other reasons, the lawsuit claimed township rules violate the First and 14th Amendments “because they prevent or require a special use permit for the presentation of certain kinds of dancing, which is constitutionally protected expression.” The refusal to transfer the liquor license “constitutes a taking” of property “without just compensation and due process of law,” it said. And all three amendments are violated “because they place unfettered discretion in the hands of the township regarding the issuance of licenses and permits.”

Further disputing the township’s sexually oriented business rules, the lawsuit said the suburb offered no facts to show “adverse secondary effects” if the business opened near the school, church or neighborhood.

The new ordinance cites case law, in part, to justify language referring to adverse secondary effects.